Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 42, most commonly known as Tommy Robinson, is a British far-right activist who organised the Unite the Kingdom march in London on 13 September. After losing his job as an engineering apprentice for assaulting a police officer, Robinson moved into activism in 2009 by founding the English Defence League (EDL), an Islamophobic organisation forged in the football terraces in Luton before spreading nationally.
We are not horrible bigots who do not accept trans people and think they should face discrimination. But that is usually the narrative. We are mainly women who have real and well-researched concerns about, for example, the effects of medical treatment that was being given to young people who do not have the maturity to appreciate the life-changing outcomes of puberty blockers and irreversible surgery.
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
The American right is partially defined by its embracing debunked conspiracy theories such as the big lie about the 2020 election and those involving all things COVID. While some conspiracy theories are intentionally manufactured by those who know they are untrue (such as the 2020 election conspiracy theories) other theories might start by people being bad at reading things correctly.
Our post-event investigation is ongoing and officers have trawled through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage and continue to review evidence to help with enquiries. We have identified a number of people we want to speak to in connection with a range of offences and we are asking for the public's help to track them down We know people may have travelled from outside of London, so we're asking for people across the country to take a look at those pictured
If you're a Christian, white parent who loves the Lord and loves your children, then you need to have the talk. The talk that we're referencing is the talk that takes your children, according to their maturity, at the proper time, the appropriate time, and says there are certain parts of town that you cannot go and there are certain people that you cannot be around, right?
First the piece of content, then everyone hops on, makes it about them and puts their own meaning on it, and then all the players double down into another culture war, more content, clippable, meme-able, performative. Every now and then people remember that a tragedy has happened, and there's a bit of performative decorum. And then more content arrives in, and dopamine zings.
The Turning Point USA co-founder, known for his extreme anti-LGBTQ+ views, was fatally shot in the neck during a crowded open-air debate on gun violence at Utah Valley University on Wednesday (10 September). Just seconds prior to the shooting, Kirk was asked about the epidemic of mass shootings in the US after he and many right-wing figureheads claimed "too many" mass shooters were trans. Of the 3,708 mass shooting incidents in the US since 2015, only an estimated 16 of the incidents were committed by trans people.
Here's a good explanation of the known gamer references in the things he scratched onto bullet casings (though the song Bella Ciao has been appropriated by Groypers). But the full arrow sequence was quickly recognized as something else: a combo from Helldivers 2 for calling the Eagle 500kg Bomb stratagem. The world of Helldivers - which evokes Robert Heinlein's book Starship Troopers and the subsequent movie - concerns fascism thematically; developer Arrowhead has characterized it as a satire where players fight for a fascist state.
Almost immediately, numerous right-wing commentators and news outlets were very willing to speculate that, given the timing, the shooter must have been trans. Within the hour, former congressman and Fox commentator Jason Chaffetz, giving an "eyewitness account" of the scene, said: "I don't think it was a coincidence that the shot rang out when you have a question about transgender mass shootings. Hopefully I am wrong. I will probably get criticized for jumping to conclusions. ... I don't think that is a coincidence, but we will see."
It's time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund & prosecute every single leftist organization, Loomer wrote on X after Kirk was fatally shot while speaking at Utah Valley University on Wednesday. We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The left is a national security threat. The staunch Trump supporter on Thursday also described having stayed up all night and pledged to expose anyone online whom she perceived to mock Kirk or celebrate the rightwing activist's murder.
Arguably the most remarkable aspect of the aftermath of the right-wing activist Charlie Kirk's assassination is how irrelevant its actual perpetrator was to the immediate discourse. I saw the finger-pointing online even before I saw the news that Kirk had been shot. At that point, there was hardly any information about the incident-let alone details about the shooter or a motive.
There's an attempt right now to basically say, if you shut up, you will be safe. And if you speak out politically, there's a good shot that some unhinged actor is going to take that as a threat and then come and try and kill you, Shapiro said, adding: Yeah, I mean, there will be. I've told my security team I will never again do an outdoor event.
As one of the most influential right-wing activists in the United States, Charlie Kirk shaped much of the hard-right youth movement on key political issues. Kirk founded Turning Point USA, a political organization designed to rally young conservatives. He was answering questions about transgender politics and mass shootings from students at Utah Valley University on Wednesday when he was shot and killed. Authorities have not yet identified a suspect and said the investigation was ongoing.
Seconds prior to the shooting, Kirk was being asked about the number of trans people involved in mass shootings - a topic that has become a key conservative talking point since the recent Minneapolis shooting. "Do you know how many transgender Americans have been mass shooters over the last 10 years?" an audience member asked Kirk, in a video seen by PinkNews. "Too many," Charlie Kirk said in response.
The university said in a post that "at about 12:10 a shot was fired at the visiting speaker, Charlie Kirk. He was hit and taken from the location by his security." In a later post, it said the campus was closed and that police were going building to building to escort people off campus. Utah Valley University executive Ellen Treanor told NPR that a shot rang out from a building about 200 yards away from Kirk, who was invited by a student group.
Ben Bergquam, the rightwing internet personality, was with agents, filming and making content as well as getting into altercations with local residents along the way, according to a video the Guardian viewed on X. In the video, he appears to be in the car with Ice agents and nearby as they arrest people; later on he yells at a group of Chicagoans who are gathered to prevent Ice operations that they are the enemy within.
Braeden Sorbo, the son of Hercules stars Kevin Sorbo and his wife, Sam, said if he had it his way, women in America would lose the right to vote. The 24-year-old actor and conservative influencer shared his bold claim while appearing on the Truth & Liberty YouTube show on Friday. Sorbo said a lot of young women tell him they wish the 19th Amendment was never ratified, because it led to a chain of bad events happening down the line, including abortion being legalized and feminism.
